IOC Announce Candidate City Evaluation Commission

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced the composition of the Evaluation Commission which will visit the five Candidate Cities to host the Games of the XXX Olympiad in 2012.

The team, composed of representatives of the Olympic Movement and experts, will analyse the candidature files that Paris (FRA), New York (USA), Moscow (RUS), London (GBR), and Madrid (ESP), will have submitted to the IOC by 15 November 2004, and make inspections on site before issuing a report one month before the election of the host city in Singapore on 6 July 2005.

ISAF President Paul HENDERSON will sit on the evaluation commission. Paul is well known to the Olympic Family, having dedicated five years as a volunteer in his leadership of the Toronto Olympic Bid, for the right to host the 1996 Games. Paul is also a member of the Sports and Environment Commission, and the Women and Sport Commission of the International Olympic Committee.

An athlete representative will be appointed following the elections to the IOC Athletes’ Commission to be held during the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens this summer.

Commenting on the announcement, IOC President Jacques ROGGE said. “The Evaluation Commission plays a key role in assessing the Candidate Cities’ ability to host the Olympic Games. We have here an excellent team, and I am particularly pleased that Nawal El Moutawakel has accepted to lead it. As a former Olympic champion, she has a great knowledge of the Olympic Games and what it takes to organise them. The experience that she has gained from working closely with the Moroccan government in promoting sport, as a member of the IAAF Council and as a member of numerous IOC commissions will be real assets to the Evaluation Commission.”

IOC Evaluation Commission